Chocolate of the Day
Dandelion Chocolate
100% Camino Verde, Ecuador
Good ++
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 2 oz. (57 g.) in total bar
Calories: 155 calories (estimate) in 1/2 bar
Cost: $13.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Bar and Cocoa, online order
Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Ecuador Theme Week.
Today's single origin, single ingredient 100% Camino Verde, Ecuador (bar) was made by Dandelion Chocolate (San Francisco, CA).
Rich, layered aroma with tart sweet fruit (apple, stone fruit - peach, very faint cherry), subtle molasses, warm spice, very faint green floral notes. and faint brown fruit (date, dried persimmon, very faint fruit vinegar).
This 100% bar had a thick, substantial texture at room temperature (65 degrees F. / 18 degrees C.).
Though the overall taste will strike some as bitter, or even a tad sour, this ultra-dark chocolate offered rich and complex dark flavor depth, like a fine stout or porter.*
Do savor a small square of this chocolate slowly to taste this full ebony-dark palette untainted and un-brightened by sugar. There was a dark roast quality to this chocolate without it actually tasting roasted. (A unilateral dark roast would likely have destroyed some of the more nuanced botanical and green notes.)
Flavor notes, in order of appearance, included: earth, mellow green seed/nut and other very faint green floral/botanical notes, subtle baked biscuit (yeast bread), clean mineral, green waxy plant, hops and malt, and other elusive elements (possibly a barely there glimmer of dark/sour fruit acidity, and relatively pleasing edible leaves (artichoke).
The chocolate had a long finish that lasted for at least four minutes, and conjured up imaginary notions of an Edam/Cheddar cheese plate with unsalted nuts, dried fruit--with an ultra-dark beer, with a porter-spiked, 100% chocolate, barely sweetened, beer fruit cake for dessert. Quite a fantasy meal from just the first few bites of chocolate.
The cacao beans (harvested in 2019) used to make this 100% bar "were grown by producers all around Ecuador and were fermented by Vicente Norero near Guayaquil."
Dandelion makers' tasting notes: "...Eric visited Camino Verde (translation: green road) in 2016, and was impressed by the unique fermentation process. In this bar we taste notes of creme fraiche, black coffee, and roasted peanuts."
Ingredients: Cocoa beans
Allergen-related information: "Contains no dairy, gluten, nuts, or soy." "May contain trace amounts of sugar."
*Think 1 part stout with "chocolate" malt, 1 part porter, with a dash of lambic perhaps.
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